


Someone Who Knows What You're Going Through

by willowjadeflower



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Gen, let them be friendssss, pearl and greg talk
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-15
Updated: 2018-09-15
Packaged: 2019-07-12 11:47:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,186
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15994559
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/willowjadeflower/pseuds/willowjadeflower
Summary: Greg wakes up one night to find Pearl outside his van. They talk.After "Mr. Greg"





	Someone Who Knows What You're Going Through

Greg Universe lay wide awake in his van, staring at the ceiling as he tried to reconcile the strange, unsettled feeling in his chest. There’s just enough light sneaking in to highlight the piece of gum that somehow got itself stuck up there.

Then another sound came, a tap, or maybe a scrape, on the side of his van. 

Greg presses a hand on his chest as if that would stop his heart from leaping out of it, trying to reassure himself that it was certainly not necessary to jolt to a sitting position and rush out of his van with a baseball bat. It could be a crow, or even the wind! Nothing out of the ordinary! … Probably. It could, after all, more Gem technology, prodding, poking curiously at his van, seeing if it was worth hauling up into another spaceship -

Another sound. Okay, maybe he was getting a little paranoid, sweat beading on his forehead, but he really couldn’t help it. A lot of crazy stuff has been going down recently! He just needs time to calm his nerves a little…

_Tap._

Okay, that’s it, he’s just going to take a peek outside, satisfy his paranoia, and slip right back under the covers for a good rest of the night. 

He took a deep breath, staring at the ceiling with a determined glare, and heaved up and out, slowly opening the back doors and hesitantly inching his head out. The air was chilly and he almost regrets it, but another sound quickly snatches his attention.

“…Pearl?” 

Well, it did turn out to be a Gem, but at least it was a Gem he recognized. Said Gem squawks in alarm at his voice and leaps to her feet in an uncharacteristically awkward way, staring at Greg with wide, nervous eyes. “Oh! Greg!"

“Er,” Greg says, fear swooping out his chest as he steps out of the van, rubbing the wake from his eyes. “What are you doing?”

“W-well, you see - I was out and about and - I just happened to see that one of your tires seemed to have a bit - and well you know I -“ Pearl stammers as Greg stares blankly. After a moment of silence she mutters, “I was feeling restless and wanted to talk to somebody. Which happens to be you.”

“…Oh!” Greg says, relaxing and giving her a smile. “Well, come on in, then!”

“Um. In?” Pearl says, looking apprehensive, as if she already knows the answer and was hoping to be proven wrong.

“Yeah!” Greg says, waving at his van and pulling both doors open. “It’s a little messy, but you did catch me in the middle of the night!”

“Ah, yes, sorry… about… that,” Pearl says, looking more and more uncertain. Though, from how she’s inspecting the inside of the van with a frown, could be her discomfort of getting inside. “I was - I am aware of you humans’ - your need for sleep during the nighttime, but since Gems don’t need sleep I happened to be up and… oh dear, I should have waited until the morning, shouldn’t I?” She was nudging a stray blanket with her finger, as if itching to fold it up neatly and put it back in place. 

 “Hey, don’t worry about it!” Greg is quick to reassure her, bundling blankets and miscellaneous items off the van floor and piling them against the front seats. The pile seems to be greatly disturbing Pearl, so he sits in front of it. “I couldn’t get to sleep anyway, for some reason,” he says. 

“Ah. Well, then…” Pearl says, finally stepping in with careful movements, sliding against the wall of the van with her legs tucked against her and her arms around her knees. Greg has seen her in this defensive position before, as if holding her legs to her chest would protect her heart somehow. 

“What did you want to talk to me about?” he says kindly after a pause. He tries not to get nervous - he and Pearl seemed to had finally broken the stiff barrier between them after they went to Empire City with Steven, with Pearl shattering his belief that she’s harbored a deep hatred for him for the past fourteen years. Still, Empire City was pretty recent, and for a Gem who’s thousands of years old Rose’s… Steven’s birth was pretty recent, and he had figured Pearl needed a little more time for scars to fade before they could become the best of buds (if that could ever happen).

(Greg’s still holding out hope.)

Pearl lowers her head, inspecting a pebble that had made its way into the van. “I was thinking about Rose.”

“…Oh,” Greg says, his throat threatening to close up. 

“I - I can’t really talk to the others about it,” Pearl says.

“Garnet and Amethyst?”

She nods. “It was different, for them. What Rose and I had was different, and it’s hard to talk to them about it. It’s not a thing we can really talk about, at all - I mean, we have to be there for Steven and the corrupted gems, we can’t waste time thinking about… the past.”

Pearl looks so resigned. “Well,” Greg says, “Sometimes talking about it is a good thing, ‘cause otherwise everything might get all bottled up inside and gets harder to let go.”

Pearl smiles a little. “That sounds like something Steven would say,” she says, and Greg puffs up with pride.

“Well, where’d you think the little shnooball gets it?” he says. 

Pearl’s still smiling, so he cheers inwardly. “I can’t talk to Steven about it either,” she says, her fingers tightening. “I… I think I put enough of my stress on his shoulders already.”

There’s guilt radiating off of her, strong and bitter. “I just remembered what he said the other night,” she continues. “Something about… talking to someone who knows what you’re going through.”

_Ah, Empire City,_ Greg thinks, recalling the same moment. “So that’s why you came to talk to me,” he says. There’s a feeling bubbling in his chest, warm and happy.

Pearl seems to panic a little at that, waving her hands as she says hurriedly, “I don’t mean to be an intrusion! It’s fine if you don’t -“

“Hey, it’s totally cool! I’m here!” Greg says. 

Pearl relaxes a bit. “…Thank you.”

There’s a silence that would’ve probably been comfortable if it hadn’t been so expectant.

“… Hey, you wanna listen to some music?” Greg blurts out. 

Pearl blinks in surprise. “Um, sure?”

“Sweet!”

Greg is quick to put on one of his newest creations, from the _Water Witch_ album. Music gently fills the van. 

“…Sometimes I wonder what it would be like, if Rose was still here,” Pearl admits.

“But then we wouldn’t have Steven,” Greg says.

“I know,” Pearl says, sounding a bit mad. “I hate how it’s either or - why can’t they both be here?” Her tone turns sad. “Steven doesn’t talk about it much, but I can tell he really wishes he could meet her."

Greg looks down at his hands. “Me too,” he sighs wistfully. “I mean, it would probably be terrifying - Rose once let a baby climb onto a Ferris wheel,” he says with a bit of a laugh at the memory. ( _Ferris wheel?_   Pearl wonders.) “But wow, she would love Steven so much. I mean, she probably _does_ , now that she _is_ Steven, if - if that’s how it works... man that stuff is complicated."

“Greg,” Pearl says, looking off to the side. “Are you… do you sometimes get angry at Rose?” Her voice grows quiet. “At what she did?”

Greg sighs and looks up at the ceiling. The bit of gum stuck on the ceiling looks back as he thinks. “I don’t know. Maybe what she did was a little selfish - maybe _she_ was a little selfish - but at the same time, nobody can be perfect. Not even alien Gems. They probably make choices without thinking what comes afterwards like humans do.” He looks over at Pearl. “Do you get mad at her sometimes?”

Pearl tenses. “… Sometimes,” she says. “I’m angry that she left us, when we were all that were left. I’m angry that she left Steven with her responsibilities. I’m angry that she just… did whatever she wanted.” Her voice broke, and she laughs helplessly. “That’s why I loved her so much though, isn’t it?”

“Yeah,” Greg says. “Me too."

They look at each other, then laugh, like they did on the floor of the hotel, sad but warm and not alone.

“Sometimes,” Greg says, "when I think about it I do get mad, but then I think, it’s not worth holding on to that, you know? We’re here now, so isn’t it better to think of the good memories of her?”

“Yes,” Pearl says, smiling down at her hands. “There were a lot of good ones.” Her smile wavers. “Though I worry if that puts pressure on Steven to be just like her.”

“Oh,” Greg says sadly. That is a bit out of his depth - he only knew the basics of the Gems and their powers, and the powers Steven has and could have.

“But…” Pearl says, “she wasn’t perfect, was she?” There’s something endlessly sad in her voice, like a child who believed Santa was real all their life only to find their parents putting presents under the tree. “And Rose is not Steven.”

“No,” Greg says, feeling pride swell up in him again. “He’s his own little man.” 

Pearl chuckles. “That he is! Did he tell you that he took down a corrupted Gem all on his own the other day?” 

“Really?"

The music churns sweetly in the background as Pearl tells the story, pride evident in her voice, with Greg cheering at opportune moments. They move onto Steven's newest powers, the Lars incident, and recent missions, laughing and brimming with joy for Steven like the proud parents they are, and Greg doesn't want to stop talking.

Pearl was starting to talk about some of the sword training she’s been letting Steven join in with Connie when Greg says, “You know, I really wanted to talk with you more back then, after Steven was born. I just couldn’t come up with enough courage.”

Pearl sputters at that, hands flying everywhere. Greg laughs at her befuddlement as she stammers, “But - but I was so rude to you!” The horror of that seems to catch up with her, her cheeks blue with embarrassment.

“Yeah, but you’re a really cool person!” Greg tells her, the blue in her cheeks deepening. “You’ve fixed my van who knows how many times!”

“Well,” Pearl says, looking around herself with a critical eye, “it’s certainly seen better days.”

“Yeah,” Greg says fondly, “I just can’t seem to part with it after so many years.” He smiles, patting its wall. “I’m just a simple man with a van.” It sounded like a nice song lyric, so he pulls out his guitar and does a few experimental strums. “Just a man with his vaaAAAN!”

Pearl gives him an obligatory smile, but she’s pretty bad at faking them, leaving an awkward look on her face as he gives the guitar one more strum, clashing horribly with the music already playing.

“Ah, I’ll work on that one later,” Greg says.

“It has... potential,” Pearl says. 

It felt a little odd, having Pearl be more nicer than blunter, but it was a nice odd. She was making an effort, and it made Greg beam. 

“Well, in any case,” Pearl says, playing with her hands again. Her posture has relaxed, and she has been sitting cross-legged for a while now, but she suddenly seems a bit guarded again. “I’m… glad. That it was you.”

“Huh?” Greg says.

“The human that Rose…” Pearl trails off, cheeks flushing again. “She did want Steven so much…" 

Greg stares at her, and stares at her some more, distantly aware of the sappy smile that’s forming on his face. 

“I - I should really get back and check on Steven, I’ve really taken up a lot of your sleep time, and you should really get back to sleep so that your form can regain its energy,” Pearl babbles, clearly flustered at the admission, as she fumbles to exit the van gracefully and utterly failing. Greg is still grinning, and he hurries to call after her.

“Hey Pearl!”

She looks over her shoulder. “What?”

“I just wanted you to know, you can come talk to me whenever you want,” Greg says. He pats the van door. “My door’s open, any time of the day!" 

Pearl’s face softens, something new and warm. “Maybe not during the night,” she says, pointedly glancing at Greg’s drooping, sleepy form. He grins and rubs the back of his head sheepishly. 

“What can I say, I need my beauty sleep,” he says playfully.

“Uh huh,” Pearl says, her face clearly saying _what beauty?_  But there was a playfulness there too. “Well. Good night.” And then she leaps impossibly high into the air, as she so often does.

“Good night!” Greg yells after her, wondering if his voice would reach her.  

(It does.)

**Author's Note:**

> what up yall, thanks for reading ^.^ i was listening to "Both Of You" and just... let them taaaaaalk
> 
> pearl and greg are very precious beings ok
> 
> much love! ~ willoz


End file.
